Covering third parties and independent candidates since 2008

Monthly Archives: March 2009

The Green Party of Florida received permission yesterday to investigate the “Florida Five,” five candidates who payed their filing fees at the very last minute, in contested state legislature races. There is belief that the candidates were all Republican plants, but there’s no complete evidence.

Here’s an excerpt:

Pasco County Circuit Judge Stanley Mills is allowing the Greens to subpoena testimony and records to get to the bottom of who, if anyone, was behind the effort, although the candidates ultimately had little or no impact on the elections.

At the Green Party of the United States (GP-US) website, a document is posted that is a draft proposal to the GP-US National Committee. The proposal is in a discussion phase, and may be refined by the consensus process before being voted on. The proposal was submitted by the state of California, where Mike Feinstein, a character in the background story of the proposal, is a delegate.… Read more ...

“The federal government does not recognize ‘domestic partnerships’ in federal law, through both legal precedent and statutes including the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),” noted Outright Libertarians’ National Chair, Rob Power.

On March 27th, the West Virginia House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would cut the number of signatures an independent or minor party candidate would have to collect from 2% of all votes cast, to 1%. It also changed the petition deadline from May to August.

On March 19th, the Federal Elections Committee gave an extension to the Socialist Workers Party’s disclosure exemption for another four years.

You can get the details from the article published in The Militant, or you can find the Ballot Access News article here. Source: Ballot Access News. Thanks to Paulie for providing me with the link.… Read more ...

Gary Wood, a Salt Lake City political examiner for Examiner.com has written an article berating the two-party system. Here’s an excerpt:

This is their left and right, liberal and conservative, them or us mentality that both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee want everyone to engage in. Ever since the two parties took over the organizational structure of the legislative branch, at the beginning of the 20th Century, their goal is to exclude any other groups from political discussion while pretending to really be two different choices.

Less than a week after the Obama administration claimed they were ending the Bush policy of raiding state-sanctioned medical marijuana dispensaries, DEA agents Wednesday night burst through the doors of the Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco and seized the prescription cannabis the clinic had a lawful permit to dispense to the ill.… Read more ...

Former Libertarian candidate for New York’s 20th Congressional District, Eric Sundwall, wrote a letter slamming Republican candidate Jim Tedisco and his allies. He also endorses Democrat Scott Murphy for the congressional seat. Here’s part of the letter:

Mr. Tedisco denies any involvement with the concerted effort by his supporters to knock me off the ballot.

Former U.S. Senator Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island, who served as a Republican until he was defeated for re-election in 2006, is said to be planning to run for Governor as an independent in 2010. The news was first reported on TV station WRNI. Thanks to Gene Berkman for the news.

The Libertarian Party of California is now formally endorsing a proposed state measure, the Domestic Partnership Initiative. This would sweep up all mentions of the word “marriage” in California law and statute, and replace it with the word “domestic partnership.” Here’s an excerpt:

Under the proposal, legal rights for all domestic partners, in same or opposite sex partnerships, would be identical and would include the rights currently afforded to married persons.

Matt Reichel, Green candidate for Congress in Illinois’ fifth district, will be appearing on Chicago’s WTTW on Wednesday, April 1 at 7 PM Central time. The show is called Chicago tonight, and both the Democratic and Republican candidates will be there as well.… Read more ...